A TEAM of Birmingham scientists have been given more than £1 million which will be used to research whether cancer drugs can be used to treat arthritis sufferers.

Arthritis Research UK Professor of Rheumatology Chris Buckley will use a £956,000 five-year programme grant to trial new drugs and those currently used to treat other conditions, such as cancer, in patients with established – as well as those with early – disease.

He will also investigate the basic science behind special immune cells that could hold the key to developing the condition.

Meanwhile, another team of experts at the University of Birmingham’s Arthritis Treatment Centre will use £225,000 awarded by the charity Arthritis Research UK, to trial new drugs and investigate the science behind the disease.

Local patients will get the chance to take part in those experimental trials.

Rheumatoid arthritis affects nearly half a million people in the UK.

It is a chronic, disabling condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the joints.

The Birmingham team have been at the forefront of research investigating the effects of fibroblasts – types of cell responsible for defining the structure of the lining layer of cells in the joint.

“The best current treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis only control disease temporarily, even when used early in the disease, and even our best treatments control disease in little more than half of patents in a real-life clinic environment,” explained Professor Buckley.

“We will test a new class of treatments aimed at removing damaging fibroblasts in established arthritis and re-programming them in early disease”.

“If trials targeting fibroblasts work as well as they appear to be doing in the treatment of cancer, a whole new class of treatments distinct from current disease-modifying medicines will become available, that will offer genuine alternative to existing drugs and offer the potential to help repair damaged joints.”

Medical director of Arthritis Research UK Professor Alan Silman added: “There’s a real need to do in-depth testing of the benefits and safety of new drugs in small numbers of patients before large scale trials can begin.”